49ers look for new ways to stay fit in offseason

At the suggestion of a friend, Jonathan Goodwin added boxing to his offseason routine, alternating quick bursts of pounding his fists into a trainer’s mitts with other short sets of exercise. The 49ers‘ center also played some kickball with his wife in a co-ed league near his South Carolina home.

The boxing regimen put him in sync with his fellow linemen who stayed in the Bay Area, working on new fitness techniques with strength and conditioning coach Mark Uyeyama. The kickball? That was fairly original.

“It was another way to get me out running, and I usually play pitcher, and most of the girls bunt, so I had to work on springing up and making the play,” Goodwin said, “so I honestly think with me having to do that, it’s helped with quickness and reaction time.”

As a big guy entering his 11th year in the NFL, Goodwin needs to find alternatives to running laps, to counter both tedium and the stress on his knees. Every player should be trying to reinvent a piece of himself in the offseason, seeking ways to stay fresh, mentally and physically.

The 49ers’ revival last season, ending in an overtime loss a game shy of the Super Bowl, led a lot of people to see them as just a few roster tweaks away from a Lombardi Trophy. They loaded up on wide receivers, and if even one of them produces like a typical second option, the team will be vastly upgraded at the position. But the “one player away” theory doesn’t work on its own. The returning players from a team like the 49ers have to move forward, or work at moving forward so they can stay at the level they achieved before.

The boxing routine is new, and all of the linemen are doing it. Goodwin was surprised when he talked to teammate Daniel Kilgore and learned that he had independently chosen the same activity. It’s possible that the regimen has become trendy in the NFL, but Goodwin, who played on the 2010 championship team in New Orleans, said he hadn’t heard of anyone else trying it.

“Maybe so, maybe so, but hopefully it’s just our little secret, and nobody else is doing it,” he said. “Like I said, it’s been good for me, it’s given me more endurance and given me stronger punches.”

Given how important it is for a lineman to establish superiority at the second of impact, boxing should probably have been a staple of practices for a while now. “It was translates really well to the football field,” left tackle Joe Staley said.

Vernon Davis hasn’t donned the gloves. Instead, the tight end got back onto the basketball court this offseason, seriously returning to what he calls his “first love” as an athlete for the first time since he entered college. He played with his brother, Dolphins defensive back Vontae Davis, Browns linebacker and former Maryland teammate D’Qwell Jackson, plus some young prospects in Washington, D.C.

“It was fun,” Davis said, “and the more I played, the better I got at it again. I mixed it up, a day of this, and then a day of lifting or other things. I feel like, for me, my footwork is what I wanted to focus on the most.”

Linebacker Patrick Willis mixed something old with something new. He loves to fish, and he discovered that Randy Moss, a fellow Southerner, sees himself as a bassmaster in the making. So off they went together to enjoy a Bay Area fishing hole as guests of former Shark Owen Nolan, now the host of a Canadian fishing show.

“He’s my best fishing buddy,” Willis said. “We went fishing a couple of times now and I’ve out-fished him both times.”

Their outings might not make a difference if Moss at 35 can’t still play at close to peak form. But in the past, his emotional fitness determined whether teams got the shouldn’t-miss Hall of Famer or the “I play when I want to play” Moss. Being on a good team has always brought out the best in Moss, so the 49ers have that in their favor.

Bonding with Willis can only add extra incentives. Tanking would be a real chore for anyone who had to face the earnest linebacker in the locker room afterward.

At some point, they might want to drag Staley out to the water with them. He has an affinity for fishing, too. Boxing is all new, however. “I’m not really a fighter,” he deadpanned. “I’m from the suburbs.”